Coming from a family of hockey greats, Jim Bennett certainly
kept the tradition alive in his time at Brown. After his brothers
Curt (Class of '70) and John (Class of '72) had donned the Brown
jersey, Jim took over the family reins and ran with them. In his
four years on the varsity team, brown compiled a 64-46-1 record,
with a 33-12-1 mark in the Ivies. As a freshman, Bennett was a part
of what was perhaps the greatest team in Brown's history. The team
finished 23-7-0 overall and 11-1-0 in the Ivy League, good enough
for the Ivy title, its first in 11 years. The Bears finished second
in the ECAC, and advanced to the NCAA Final Four. They lost to
Michigan Tech in double overtime in the semi-finals, but came back
to beat Boston University 8-7 to finish third in the nation.
Bennett tallied 3 assists in the Final Four, and led the Bears with
5 playoff assists overall. He finished the season with 8 goals and
13 assists for 21 points, despite missing 10 games with a broken
thumb. As a sophomore, Bennett and the Bears finished with a
16-11-0 overall record, and 9-3 standings in the Ivy League for a
second-place finish. Jim was the fourth-leading goal scorer for the
Bears. He played in every game, scoring 12 goals, while adding 15
assists for 27 points. He recorded his first collegiate hat trick
against Rensselear, leading the Bears to a 9-7 triumph. Bennett's
junior season was his best, statistically, as he was the team's
second-leading scorer with 29 points. He led the Bears with 15
goals and also recorded 14 assists. He scored a career-high four
goals in a win over Yale, earning weekly ECAC honors for his
efforts, and recorded the third hat trick of his career against
Pennsylvania. The team finished 14-14-1 and 7-4-1 in the Ivy
League, again finishing second. Bennett's contributions did not go
unnoticed as he was named a First Team All-Ivy selection. In his
final season at Brown, the Bears finished with a record of 11-14-0.
While their overall record was not up to standard at the time, the
Bears did finish third in the Ivy League with a 6-4-0 mark. Even
though Jim missed three games due to injury, he still managed to
score a point per game in his 22 outings, finishing with 12 goals
and 10 assists. A 1979 graduate of Brown with a degree in the
Classics, Jim Bennett finished his career with 47 goals and 52
assists for 99 points in only 97 games played. He goes on to join
his brother, Curt, in the Brown Hall of Fame, marking the first set
of Brown hockey brothers ever to be inducted. Bennett is now the
president of Mitkem Corporation, an environmental testing
laboratory based in Warwick, Rhode Island. He currently resides in
Warwick with his wife, Jennifer, and three children, McKinley, 9,
Diana, 7, and Carly, 5.